'little tamboura') or tamboura (Hungarian: tambura; Greek: ταμπουράς, romanized: tampourás) refers to a family of long-necked lutes popular in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (of which it is the national string instrument), Hungary, Serbia (in Vojvodina, Mačva, and Posavo-Tamnava), and Slovenia.

All took their name and some characteristics from the Persian tanbur but also resemble the mandolin and guitar in the sense that its strings are plucked and often paired.

The variety of tamburica shapes known today were developed in Serbia and Croatia by a number of indigenous contributors near the end of the 19th century.

[2] The instrument was referred to as θαμπούριν, thambourin in the Byzantine Empire (confer Digenis Akritas, Escorial version, vv.

It is said it was probably brought by the Turks to Bosnia, from where the instrument spread further with migrations of Šokci and Bunjevci above the Sava River to all parts of Croatia, Serbia and further,[3] although this theory is not consistent with the generally accepted view that the ancestor of the tamboura is the ancient Greek pandouris.

Until the Great Migration of the Serbs at the end of the 17th century, the type of tambura most frequently used in Croatia and Serbia had a long neck and two or three strings (sometimes doubled).

[citation needed] Similar string instruments include the Czech bratsche, Turkish saz and the sargija, çiftelia and bouzouki.

The original long neck, pear shaped tamburica was called the samica and it came in a small or larger size.

At the time the tamburica seemed to disappear, receding further south, as it used to be played throughout the Kingdom of Hungary, as far north as Pozsony.

[6] A Dangubica, also known as a "Razbibriga", "Kozarica", "Tikvara", "Potpalac" or "Kuterevka" is another solo instrument very similar to the samica in both shape and sound.

The bugarija or kontra (brácsó) – It has four single strings, similar to a guitar, mostly plays chords on the "back beat" for rhythm.

The body (sound box) was pear-shaped until the middle of the nineteenth century CE, and was built by scooping out the log.

[3] The snail headstock design dates from at least the 19th century and the Viennese guitars of Johann Georg Stauffer.

[10] Kolarić's student Mijo Majer formed the first tamburica choir led by a conductor, the "Hrvatska Lira", in 1882.

Croatian composers for the tamburica include Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, Siniša Leopold and Julije Njikoš.

Janika Balaž, a member of the Radio Novi Sad orchestra who also had his own octet, was a popular performer whose name became synonymous with the tamburica.

The village of Schandorf in Austria, whose Croatian-speaking inhabitants are descended from 16th Century Croatian immigrants, is the home of a tamburica orchestra, a reflection of its ethnic heritage.